Saturday March 6 ~ Western Mass. Jobs with Justice Conference ~ Register <http://wmjwj.org/sites/wmjwj.org/files/Conf%20Regis%20Form.pdf> Now ~ Take <http://wmjwj.org/sites/wmjwj.org/files/Ad%20Book%20Form.pdf> an Ad ~ Join <http://wmjwj.org/sites/wmjwj.org/files/WMJwJ%20Membership%20Form.pdf> the Coalition ~ Make <http://wmjwj.org/sites/wmjwj.org/files/WMJwJ%20Membership%20Form.pdf> a Donation ~ Deadline February 19. Monday February 1 LEAFLET STOP & SHOP HIRING OF SCABS 9am-6pm, Stop & Shop shopping center, Allen and Cooley <http://maps.google.com/maps?q=415+Cooley+St,+01128> Streets, Springfield. Stop & Shop is hiring "temporary replacement workers" even though contract negotiations have barely begun. To join UFCW Local 1459 in leafleting Stop & Shop's "hiring hall" anytime that day, RSVP to Rick Brown, (413) 732-6209 x15. Monday February 1 ROBERT MCCHESNEY & JOHN NICHOLS: THE DEATH & LIFE OF AMERICAN JOURNALISM 5-7pm, Bernie Dallas Room, Goodell Building, UMass, 140 Hicks Way, Amherst. Robert McChesney and John Nichols, the award-winning authors of twenty books on media and politics, will speak about their newest book, The Death and Life of American Journalism. Subtitled "The Media Revolution that Will Begin the World Again," their book looks at the collapse of American journalism in the age of digital media, and offers an aggressive plan for rescuing and restoring news media to their rightful, indispensable place in a democratic society. Rather than blaming the Internet for the crisis in journalism, the authors locate the problem in the far more fundamental, and persistent, historical conflict between commercial values and journalism's public service mission - in the end proposing a bold solution to saving journalism, and, by extension, meaningful democracy itself. A book signing will follow their talk. Info: Sut Jhally, Executive Director, Media Education Foundation, 584-8500 x2301. Monday February 1 FILM SCREENING BENEFIT FOR HAITI RELIEF EFFORTS 7pm & 9pm, Amherst Cinema, www.amherstcinema.org. $10. The new documentary, Poto Mitan: Haitian Women, Pillars of the Global Economy, gives a platform to five poor Haitian women whose voices would otherwise not be heard. Speaking from their own experience working in factories in Haiti and organizing grassroots campaigns, the women critique globalization and neo-liberal economic policies from the perspective of those it affects most immediately. The film shows how Haitian women are not only the poto mitan or center post of their families and communities, but also how they bear the weight of the global economy. All proceeds from ticket sales as well as donations made at the screening will be sent to Partners In Health (www.standwithhaiti.org/haiti), to support urgent medical needs, and Fonkoze (www.fonkoze.org), to help Haitian women rebuild Haiti through micro-financing. The co-director of the film, Renée Bergan, will introduce the film and take questions after the screening. Info: fcwsrc@fivecolleges.edu or www.amherstcinema.org. Monday February 1 PROGRESSIVE DEMOCRATS OF AMERICA MEETING 7:30pm, Media Education Foundation, 60 Masonic St, Northampton. Discussion of recent election, healthcare, brown bag vigils at Richard Neal's office and more. Info: wendy@pdamerica.org. Wednesday February 3 WE ARE TOGETHER FOR A JUST & HUMANE IMMIGRATION REFORM! 11am, State House, Beacon St, Boston. As part of the national initiative SOMOS/WE ARE, the Local Chapter of the National Alliance of Latin American and Caribbean Communities (NALACC) invites you to a public event in support of a Just and Humane Immigration Reform. SOMOS/WE ARE is an initiative that inspires immigrants to take action in reclaiming their humanity and in supporting legislation that truly reflects what immigrants are worth and deserve. Western Mass rides: Jeff, 584-8975, jnapolitano@afsc.org. Info: Edwin Argueta, Massachusetts Jobs with Justice, 617-524-8085, edwin@massjwj.net. Wednesday February 3 (First Wednesday) FRANKLIN COUNTY WORKERS' RIGHTS COMMITTEE 7-8:30pm, Traprock Center for Peace and Justice, 24 Miles St, Greenfield ((413) 773-7427). Organizing local solidarity for Franklin County workers and unions; nurses and other workers at Franklin Medical Center; Greenfield municipal employees; and statewide and national workers' rights campaigns. Agenda includes proposed biomass plant. Info: (413) 827-0301, wmjwj@wmjwj.org. Thursday February 4 CRAFTING PUBLIC POLICY: MULTI-MEDIA PRESENTATIONS ON LOCAL POLICY TOPICS 4:30pm, Friedmann Room, second floor of Keefe <http://maps.google.com/maps/place?cid=2776260958888182123&q=Keefe+Campus+Ce nter,+Amherst+College&hl=en&cd=3&cad=src:pplink&ei=n8lhS_O-JIeuNaWurBM&sig2= n6bSEVdcziMpiEd9vgMG2g> Campus Center, Amherst College (map <https://www.amherst.edu/map/> ). Students from Amherst, Mount Holyoke, Hampshire, and Oberlin Colleges and the University of Massachusetts spent January term studying four current regional issues: homelessness, biomass, charter schools, and food security. The students used photography, video, and conventional methods to collect the perspectives of a diverse range of stakeholders. The result is a set of compelling multi-media stories that help raise the level of debate and broaden participation. The students partnered with five regional organizations in developing policy: Arise for Social Justice, the Springfield Promise Neighborhood Committee, the Interfaith Housing Corp, Holyoke Food, and the Fitness Policy Council. Refreshments will be served. Parking passes will be available in the Friedmann Room beginning at 4pm for visitors to the campus. RSVP for the event at https://www.amherst.edu/academiclife/cce/roosevelt. Thursday February 4 (First Thursday)(Note new schedule.) NORTHAMPTON LIVING WAGE COALITION 6pm, Western Mass Legal Services office, 20 Hampton Av #100, Northampton (enter near Pleasant St, south of, right angle to Sylvester's). Planning for Living Wage Week: April 4-10. The Northampton Living Wage Coalition was founded out of concern for those working in our community who cannot afford to live here and meet their basic needs (for a decent home, healthy food, appropriate clothing, and health care when needed.) On Nov. 19, the Northampton City Council voted for a living wage resolution updating its 1998 Living Wage resolution. Using data from the Crittenton <http://www.liveworkthrive.org/> Women's Union and the Northampton Housing Authority to calculate a basic needs budget for a single person without children, the Northampton living wage begins at $11.90 per hour. The NLWC will adjust it annually, publicize it, and honor those employers who pay a Living Wage or make a genuine attempt to do so. Info: Kitty Callaghan, kcallaghan@wmls.org. Thursday February 4 (First Thursday) MASSACHUSETTS CITIZENS AGAINST THE DEATH PENALTY 7-8:30pm, 87 Birchwood Avenue, Longmeadow. A bill to reinstate the death penalty in Massachusetts has been proposed. This very important matter, as well as others, will be discussed. MCADP's mission is to keep the death penalty out of Massachusetts and work to abolish it nationally and internationally. Info: mcadp1@aol.com or cajowl66@aol.com, 567-3451. Friday February 5 PIONEER VALLEY CENTRAL LABOR COUNCIL LEGISLATIVE BREAKFAST 8:30-10:30am, Tony & Penny's Restaurant, 18 Canterbury St, Ludlow. $20. Info: 732-7970, mail@pvaflcio.org. Friday February 5 CELEBRATING RESISTANCE, MAKING CHANGE - AN EVENING FOR HAITI 7pm, Food for Thought Books, 106 N Pleasant St, Amherst. Suggested Donation: $25-$12. Featuring: Djola Branner, Myriam Chancy, Dee Dee Desir, Martín Espada, Jean Dany Jochim, Lenelle Moise and Patrick Sylvain with the soul-stirring music of REBIRTH. Tickets are available at Food for Thought Books, a not-for-profit workers' collective. Info: 253-5432, tanya@foodforthoughtbooks.com, www.foodforthoughtbooks.com. Saturday February 6 WMSPN WINTER MEETING 9:30-11:30am, Lathrop Village Community Room, 1 <http://maps.google.com/maps?q=1%20Shallowbrook%20Ln%2C%20Northampton%2C%20M A%2001060> Shallowbrook Ln, off Bridge Rd, Northampton. The Western Massachusetts Single Payer Network is a nonpartisan, nonprofit coalition of advocates committed to achieving a universal single payer health care system. At our quarterly meetings, we check in with each other to see how we're doing on meeting our Organizational Goals: 1) to increase visibility of universal single payer health care across Western Massachusetts; 2) to strengthen the universal single payer movement through increasing numbers of people familiar with and committed to a single payer health care system; and 3) to work in concert with eastern Massachusetts single payer groups, as well as other groups throughout the country who share the single payer mission. We will have a report from the MassCare summit on January 25, and decide whether to endorse the new Massachusetts <http://seachange.wbumpus.com/node/19887> Campaign for Health Care Justice. We will also have reports from Member Organizations: American Friends Service Committee Berkshire Mass-Care/Physicians for a National Health Program Desmond Callan Community Health Center Franklin/Hampshire Health Care Coalition Green-Rainbow Party of Massachusetts International Socialist Organization (Northampton) League of Women Voters of Amherst League of Women Voters of Northampton Area Massachusetts Nurses Assn Region 1 Massachusetts Public Health Association Massachusetts Senior Action Council (Western Mass) Physicians for a National Health Program Physicians for Social Responsibility (Pioneer Valley) Progressive Democrats of America (Western Mass) Social Workers for Peace & Justice, Pioneer Valley Chapter United Auto Workers Local 2322 Western Mass Jobs with Justice Please send agenda items to wmspn@wmjwj.org <mailto:wmpsn@wmjwj.org> and say if you are definitely coming or your organization will definitely be represented. Info: Jon Weissman, 827-0301 x1, wmspn@wmjwj.org. Wednesday February 10 <http://www.mtholyoke.edu/wcl/24384.shtml#lani_guinier> LANI GUINIER ON RACIAL LITERACY OR POST-RACIAL BLINDNESS? 7.30pm, Gamble Auditorium, Art Building, Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley. Part of series on the Limits <http://www.mtholyoke.edu/wcl/8564.shtml#limits> of the Law. Friday February 12 (Second Friday) STREET HEAT - THE AFL-CIO MOBILIZATION COMMITTEE 9:30-11am, AFL-CIO Hall, 640 Page Blvd, near corner of Osborne Ter, across the street from the old Westinghouse, Springfield. On the agenda: Stop & Shop; EFCA; Mass Mutual Center workers; Safe Hospital staffing; Green Jobs; Immigration Reform; Postal job loss; Servicenet; Your Organizing! Community and labor activists are urged to attend. Info, send agenda items to: Jon Weissman, 732-7970, street_heat@pvaflcio.org. Saturday February 13 (Second Saturday) HEALTH EQUITY ROUNDTABLE 9:30-11:30am, Tapestry Health, 365 Bay St, Springfield. Addressing existing disparities in health care and outcomes, and the underlying racism, poverty, and homelessness. This Springfield Health Disparities Project roundtable provides a forum to engage community people in dialogue with folks working on community health initiatives, keeping the community abreast of what is happening, and getting people involved in working with others to improve community health. Info: Betty Agin, 747-0321, ucved@verizon.net. Tuesday February 16 (Third Tuesday) FRANKLIN/HAMPSHIRE HEALTH CARE COALITION 7pm, Lathrop Village Community Room, Shallow Brook Drive, off Bridge Rd, Northampton. Organizing for the Massachusetts Health Care Trust Fund Bill - a universal health care system, providing universal access, a comprehensive range of physical and mental health benefits, choice of provider, quality, unified financing and cost controls, accountable governance, and stability. The Massachusetts Health Care Trust Fund will be a "single-payer" of all health care costs, statewide. Also organizing for the national alternative to state action: Medicare for All - HR 676. Info: info@fhhcc.org. Please visit www.masscare.org and www.healthcare-now.org. Tuesday February 16 BOOK READING: AMERICAN RUST 7pm, Odyssey Bookshop, 9 College St (Routes 116 at 47), in the Village Commons, S Hadley, 534-7307 or 800-540-7307; odysseybks@aol.com; www.odysseybks.com (www.odysseybks.com/directions.html). It is rare for us to post a fiction book reading on this calendar, but this powerful story is just too relevant to our non-fiction lives in the workers' rights movement. What happens when union manufacturing jobs are shipped overseas? What happens to workers who lose their good paying jobs with benefits? What is life like in cities and towns when work disappears and a slow decay sets in to once vibrant communities? Philipp Meyer's debut novel is an absorbing portrait of ordinary people and communities that face the extraordinary and heartbreaking de-industrialization of America. His novel is set in the former steel towns of Pennsylvania, but the experience resonates with many once prosperous New England mill towns. Wednesday February 17 (Third Wednesday) BROWN BAG LUNCH VIGIL AT REP. NEAL'S OFFICE Noon-1pm, 300 State St, Springfield (map <http://maps.yahoo.com/py/maps.py?BFCat=&Pyt=Tmap&newFL=Use+Address+Below&ad dr=300+State+Street&csz=01105&country=us&Get%A0Map=Get+Map> ). Monthly vigil in front of Rep. Richard Neal's office to stop the escalation and funding for war and support for Improved Medicare for All. Info: Tim Carpenter, tim@pdamerica.org; go to the BBLV page <http://pdamerica.org/articles/misc/2009-11-13-12-49-50-misc.php> . Show your Representative and your neighbors what social <http://www.nationalpriorities.org/costofwar_home> benefits we could have paid for if the money spent on foreign, nation-building wars had been spent in our own communities (courtesy of the good work of the National <http://nationalpriorities.org> Priorities Project). Wednesday February 17 (Third Wednesday) MASS SENIOR ACTION COUNCIL - WESTERN MASS 1:30-3pm, 1124 Berkshire Avenue, near corner of Page Blvd, Springfield. Light refreshments, 50/50 raffle. MSAC was founded in 1981 to promote the rights, well being, and dignity of all people, particularly vulnerable senior citizens. Open to people of all ages. MSAC has a proud history of effective community organizing and legislative advocacy on health care, housing, transportation, and other issues. Info: 543-2334, http://www.masssenioraction.org. NOTE: PIONEER VALLEY CENTRAL LABOR COUNCIL changed to Wednesday February 24 this month from Third Wednesday. Thursday February 18 (Third Thursday) IMMIGRANT & WORKERS RIGHTS COALITION 7-8:30pm, Conference Room, second floor, room 234 &/or 236, Potpourri Plaza, 243 King St, Northampton (opposite Stop & Shop, http://maps.google.com/maps?oi=map <http://maps.google.com/maps?oi=map&q=243+King+St,+Northampton,+MA> &q=243+King+St,+Northampton,+MA). Organizing for comprehensive immigration reform and local issues, including know your rights training, reaching out to the victims of recent raids, Franklin County Jail detention center visitation project, restaurant workers project (collecting information, possible interviews), and a film series. Info: American Friends Service Committee, 584-8975, afsc@crocker.com. Friday February 19 THE ROOTS OF WAR SPEAKER SERIES: MICHAEL KLARE <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michael_Klare> ON THE GLOBAL STRUGGLE FOR RESOURCES 12:30-2pm, Stinchfield Lecture Hall, Greenfield <http://www.gcc.mass.edu/maps/> Community College. Geopolitics scholar Michael Klare will address how 21st century wars will be driven by competition over access to scarce and valuable natural resources, due, on the one hand, to rising world affluence, population growth and the rise of China as a major industrial economy and, on the other hand, to the depletion of the world's resources. Because we lack effective mechanisms for the peaceful resolution of disputes over contested resources, he forecasts that conflict is the likely outcome of such disputes. Info: Abbie Jenks, 775-1127; Les Patlove, 625-9388. Monday February 22 THE GUANTANAMO LAWYERS 7pm, Odyssey Bookshop, 9 College St (Routes 116 at 47), in the Village Commons, S Hadley, 534-7307 or 800-540-7307; odysseybks@aol.com; www.odysseybks.com (www.odysseybks.com/directions.html). Jonathan Hafetz will read from and sign his new book, The Guantanamo Lawyers: Inside a Prison Outside the Law. Following the terrorist attacks of 9/11/2001, the US imprisoned more than 750 men at its naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. These men, ranging from teenage boys to men in their eighties from over 40 different countries, were detained for years without charges, trial, and a fair hearing. Without any legal status or protection, they were truly outside the law: imprisoned in secret, denied communication with their families, and subjected to extreme isolation, physical and mental abuse, and, in some instances, torture. These are the detainees' stories, told by their lawyers because the prisoners themselves were silenced. It took habeas counsel more than two years - and a ruling from the US Supreme Court - to finally gain the right to visit and talk to their clients at Guantanamo. Even then, lawyers were forced to operate under severe restrictions designed to inhibit communication and envelop the prison in secrecy. In time, however, lawyers were able to meet with their clients and bring the truth about Guantanamo to the world. Tuesday February 23 (Fourth Tuesday) HAMPSHIRE/FRANKLIN CENTRAL LABOR COUNCIL 5:30pm, Northampton Fire Station Community Room, 26 Carlon Drive at King St/Route 5, Northampton (587-1148). Community and labor activist guests are welcome, but RSVP to Pres. Fiore Grassetti, 877-725-0357, org7@comcast.net. Wednesday February 24 (Fourth Wednesday) GREENWORK: THE WESTERN MASS GREEN ECONOMY WORKING GROUP 12:30-2:30pm, Brown Bag Lunch at Noon, Pioneer Valley AFL-CIO Hall, 640 Page Boulevard, Springfield (732-7970). GreenWork consists of advocates for a Green Economy which serves local communities; guarantees workers' rights to organize; and promotes community-owned sustainable projects. On the agenda: progress report by GreenWork Organizational Subcommittee on our Articles of Organization and By-Laws. Subscribe to the GreenWork listserve at http://lists.gaiahost.coop/mailman/listinfo/greenwork or send an email to greenwork-subscribe@lists.gaiahost.coop. Info: Jon Weissman, 827-0301, wmjwj@wmjwj.org, or Eduardo Suárez, 335-6224, director@echosd.org. Wednesday February 24 (changed this month from Third Wednesday) PIONEER VALLEY CENTRAL LABOR COUNCIL 5:30pm, AFL-CIO Hall, 640 Page Blvd, near corner of Osborne Ter, across the street from the old Westinghouse, Springfield. Community and labor activist guests are welcome, but RSVP to Jon at 732-7970, mail@pvaflcio.org, or Rick at 374-1492, rbrown@pvaflcio.org. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ TO UNSUBSCRIBE, send an email to wmjwj@wmjwj.org with a Subject of "Unsub Workers' Rights". [Workers' Rights] posts opportunities for you to learn about and show solidarity with workplace and working class struggles. And these events are opportunities for JwJ members to fulfill their pledge: <http://www.jwj.org/pledge.html> "I'll be there for workers' rights at least five times a year!" This is the core mission of Jobs with Justice (www.jwj.org <http://www.jwj.org/> ), affirming that workers' rights are human rights. To subscribe, send an email to wmjwj@wmjwj.org with a Subject of "Subscribe Workers' Rights". Western Mass Jobs with Justice 640 Page Blvd #101 Springfield MA 01104 (413) 827-0301